India will add 87 more Doppler Weather Radars (DWRs) by 2026 under Mission Mausam. The Union government informed Parliament that currently, there are only 39 DWRs to cover the entire country. The government stated that Mission Mausam aims to expand the DWR network across India to ensure complete radar coverage and improve the accuracy of weather forecasting.
Speaking to THE WEEK, S. Abhilash, Director of the Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research at CUSAT, said that once these additional DWRs are established, almost every region in the country will fall under the radar network.
Abhilash added that most of the new radars would be S-band and C-band. S-band radars have a radial coverage of 400km, while C-band and X-band radars cover 250km and 100km, respectively. “X-band radars are typically used for studying cloud development and light precipitation, which is why their range is limited,” he said. “C-band and S-band radars, on the other hand, will be used more extensively for weather prediction.”
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Currently, of the 39 operational DWRs, 12 are X-band, five are C-band, and 22 are S-band. The data collected from these radars is already being integrated into Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models through advanced data assimilation techniques to enhance weather forecasts.
Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent charge) for the Ministry of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, explained in a reply to an unstarred question in Parliament that recent advances in computing have enabled NWP modelling systems to utilize multiple radar observations with higher spatial and temporal resolution. This capability has improved the accuracy of localized forecasts. “Advanced decision support systems and techniques now generate location-specific forecasts for all types of weather by integrating various inputs, including radar observations,” he stated.